Questions reguarding cooling system
 

I did a massive update to my cooling system, and after it was all said and done, I was driving down the road and got an alert on the dash that said check coolant level. I pulled over and checked and it was empty and the engine was smoking. In a panic I tried to put more in and it went straight through it. I thought I blew up the reservoir or something but I found the transmission cooler detached at the top. I messed with the clip for the cooler a little bit and jammed it back in, drove home from where I pulled over and its so far so good. I'm trying to figure out if I could have lost transmission fluid this way. Also i'm curious as to how it got disconnected, maybe when I was replacing the reservoir. Also need to figure out how to have this not happen again.

Assuming you have the 3.0i (like I do) ...

No the problem you describe would not interact with the ATF other than to change the cooling of it. No ATF mixing or leakage could occur.

The ATF cooler plugs into the plastic frame that also holds the expansion tank. The in and out coolant flow pipes are there, along with an aluminum circular stud thing. That is clipped in place with the clip shown here. Could it be that you lost the clip, or did not properly insert it? It should very securely prevent the ATF cooler from popping out.

Attachment 81567

Okay cool, I was super worried. Here is an image of the problem I was describing, excuse the low quality..
puixxxx 1.PNG




Now the orientation of the clip from a top down view is on the left side about center. Before I did anything to my cooling system I actually noticed the clip wasn't parallel to the ground, it was diagonal, so I did move it to be parallel to the ground.

The transmission cooler comes out with my finger, I don't believe I have it secured properly(obviously).

Does the circular stud thing mount it to the plastic frame? I have the clip, but I don't know if its in.

Great guide, thats the one I followed